BBC

Fish occur in populations of billions and there are over 30,000 species, more than in any other group of backboned animals. The development of the backbone was a crucial advance in evolution -and it probably came from a most unlikely source, a little jelly-like creature called a sea squirt.

BBC

Some 350 million years ago, evolution reached one of its most crucial stages when fish crawled from water onto the land and became amphibians. Today, newts, salamanders, toads and frogs still survive in great quantities, and there is even one species of frog where the male gives birth from its mouth! Presented by David Attenborough

BBC

David Attenborough looks at the history of reptiles, the first back-boned creatures to solve the problems of living high and dry on the land. Their waterproofed skin and sealed eggs enabled the mighty reptiles to rule the world.

BBC

The story of life, from the first primitive cells to the plants and animals that now live around us. David Attenborough examines the uses and advantages of birds' unique possession - the feather. Man has yet to invent anything that, weight for weight, is as strong as the feather. Feathers are insulators, they provide the surface of the most perfect aerofoils known - bird's wings

BBC

Mammals have proved to be one of the most adaptable products of evolution. David Attenborough looks at their evolution from reptiles 200 million years ago. This remarkable transition involved the development of mechanisms for regulating body temperature, for allowing the young to develop in the womb and for suckling newborns.

BBC

David Attenborough brings us the universal story that unites each of us with every animal on the planet, the story of the greatest of all adventures - the journey through life.
In the first episode, animals overcome their first great hurdle - surviving infancy.

BBC

In the journey towards adulthood, a moment comes for all animals when they must strike out on their own. With their parents absent they must learn to survive in a dangerous world. At this stage of life every small success may mean the difference between life and death.

BBC

Jimmy Doherty and the team find out about the discovery of a new dinosaur, the latest thinking on the personality of a T Rex, and what scientists are learning from a human skull over a hundred thousand years old.

BBC

This episode explores projects from the construction of a life-sized whale to a life-saving trip to Uganda. The true image of a dodo is revealed, and a nine-foot sturgeon turns up with the strangest tale of any object in the museum.

BBC

Jimmy Doherty and the team go behind the scenes at the Natural History Museum to enter the extraordinary world of insects. They explore the great butterfly collection, meet the most stung man in the museum and discover how the museum is using insects to help at murder scenes.

Christian Hills

Documentary telling the story of Britain's first hand transplant, carried out by surgeons at Leeds Infirmary on Boxing Day night 2012, from the moment Professor Simon Kay and his team decided to go ahead to the moment the patient was able to move the transplanted hand.

BBC

Manta rays are one of the most intelligent creatures in the ocean and, at up to seven metres long, one of the largest. Yet despite their size and curious nature, almost nothing is known about their lives.

BBC

Wildlife documentary. In the forests of northern Minnesota, biologist Lynn Rogers uses food to gain the trust of wild black bears, a controversial technique developed over his own forty-year journey from fear to fascination.
Following the fortunes of mother bear June and her three cubs over a year, the film reveals an intimate portrait of the lives of black bears.

BBC

This is the emotional story of one young killer whale\'s quest for companionship after he was separated from his family. Luna was just two years old when, alone and confused, he found himself on the rugged, wild coast of Vancouver Island.
Following his tumultuous life, the film records the human friendships he developed and the trouble this led him into.

BBC

This fascinating programme takes you deep into the secret world of the badger, following one family throughout the course of a year. Explore the habits, behavior and survival techniques of one of our country's most shy and elusive creatures.

BBC

Natural World investigates the vital bond between animal mothers and their babies. The more we study animals, the more we realise just how emotional they are; all mothers are faced with tough choices as they struggle to bring up babies in a difficult and dangerous world, constantly balancing their own needs with those of their infants.

BBC 2

A real-life drama about a family of chimps trapped in a lost world. They live in a deep and ancient forested gorge that runs though the African savannah and for fifteen years it has been cut off from the rest of the jungle.

BBC

Just how does the cuckoo trick other birds into accepting its eggs and raising its young? In this film, new photography is combined with archive footage and the latest scientific findings to solve a puzzle which, as narrator David Attenborough explains, has perplexed nature-watchers for thousands of years.

BBC 2

A celebration of the life and legacy of Echo, the world\'s most famous elephant, who was born in 1945 and died in 2009, and who Natural World followed for the last 20 years of her life.
The timing of Echo\'s death could not be worse. The wise old matriarch had guided her family for half a century but the cruellest drought in living memory devastated her home under the shadow of Kilimanjaro.